Broadcaster a voice for the blind

Dong Lina also performs in Hongdandan's reading drama The Facial Mould of a Maid by the Seine. Provided to China Daily

Dong Lina's voice is soft and appealing. It's hard to notice that she is visually impaired while one savors the sound of her pure Mandarin.

Related: Seeing by ear

The 29-year-old from Dalian, Liaoning province, may be the first visually challenged person in China who has been admitted to a university to study broadcasting. Despite many difficulties, she became a professional broadcaster and won the second prize of the National "Xia Qing Cup" Recitation Contest.

"Impaired sight may affect us psychologically, but we can overcome the difficulties," says Dong, who has congenital amblyopia and lost her eyesight totally at the age of 10.

She works at Beijing Hong-dandan Education and Culture Exchange Center, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve the quality of life of the visually impaired. Her main job: training NGO's volunteers to record voice books for the visually challenged.

"Hongdandan is like my family and changes my life," she says. "Without my first step here, I wouldn't dare to have any dream after that," she says.

Graduated from a polytechnic school in 2003, she became a masseuse in her hometown, with a monthly salary of nearly 3,000 yuan ($490). In China, that's often one of the few jobs open to blind applicants.

In 2006, she learned about Hongdandan's broadcasting training for the visually challenged via the Internet.

"I didn't like being a masseuse. It was my way to make a living, but I wouldn't give up finding what I really want to do," she says.

Dong took a train to Beijing, in spite of her parents' strong opposition. It was her first long journey on her own.

Though Hongdandan's training had already ended, the NGO paid for Dong to learn broadcasting at Radio Beijing Corporation's Training Center several months later.

She found the Chinese language to be charming, as each word was articulated like a pearl from the teacher.

It was not easy for her to keep up with others. She recorded all the classes and listened to them repeatedly. While other classmates could start to practice as soon as they got the materials, she had to type them in Braille. Fortunately, many classmates volunteered to read them out for her.